Heidi

As a teacher, I really do love October. There are so many fun ways to add a little Halloween zing to your regular classroom routines. Today we’ve got a fun freebie for you that puts a spooky twist on collective nouns! Collective nouns are names for groups of people, animals, or things. Some of these…

Want to know my tried-and-true secret to surviving the last few weeks of school? THEME DAYS! I love theme days for two reasons. They keep the kids engaged. They make planning easier. We call these our D.L.I.T.E Days. D.L.I.T.E stands for Differentiated Learning and Integrated Theme Experience. You can call them Theme Days or whatever…

How you start your day is often how you live your life. –Louise Hay Beginnings matter. What happens before the first bell even rings has a huge impact on the outcome of the entire day. The tone of the day is established in the first 20 minutes of the day. The effectiveness of the entire…

I sat down to type up what I did the first week of 2nd grade, but a few thousand words later, I’d only covered the first day! So it seemed like we probably needed 2 posts on that topic. If you want to know how I organized the first DAY of 2nd grade, check out…

Back-to-school is the worst of times. It’s so stressful and exhausting (seriously it’s so, so tiring!). But it’s also the best of times! The feeling of a new beginning is absolutely exhilarating. I love that fresh start, where everything is possible and I haven’t screwed up…yet! I may be in the minority (okay, I’m definitely…